Business Guidance Related to COVID-19

Faculty and staff can find up-to-date information about university business and finance continuity plans.

On this page:

Updated May 29, 2020

Coming Soon: eStore

Updated May 29, 2020

In an effort to bring efficiency and reduce in-person transaction processing, we are pleased to announce the university wide implementation of a new electronic payment process (eStore), as a touchless alternative to current collection methods for state and UBF funds.

This new payment process will also replace the current ePay and will allow you to offer additional items or events with upgraded functionality including:

A Financial Management staff member will be reaching out to each unit soon to discuss the transitioning of all fees to this online alternative in advance of the Fall semester. If you would like more information regarding this transition process please reach out to UBS-eStore@buffalo.edu for more information.

Research Foundation Scholarship Processing Changes

Updated May 29, 2020

A new Research Foundation scholarship business process and reports are coming. Academic units will be able to add the RF grant account number when they award the scholarship online in HUB. This process will deliver a more efficient way for scholarships to be charged to the grant, and the new reports will eliminate the need for sharing documents amongst the various academic and business offices. Various stakeholders will have reports available to assist in their role of the process, including awarding academic units, RF Sponsored Projects Services, Accounts Payable, Financial Management, and Student Accounts. The goal is to have this new process in place for the Fall 2020 semester.

New SIRI Dashboard: COVID-19 Reporting

Updated May 8, 2020

A new dashboard called COVID-19 Reporting is now available in the Financial Dashboards folder in SIRI. This dashboard contains the State Expenditure Reduction and the COVID-19 expenditure reports currently found on other dashboards. The Open State Purchase Order Encumbrances report has been added to this dashboard. The purpose of this dashboard is to consolidate the COVID-19 related reports and make them available to a wider audience. Current SIRI users with strategic financial data access will be able to view this dashboard. If you have any questions regarding this new dashboard, please contact Tom Okon (tokon@buffalo.edu). For security requests, please see the SIRI page on the Administrative Services Gateway at www.buffalo.edu/siri.

Student Fees

Updated May 6, 2020

Students will receive prorated credits for certain fees where services have been discontinued or curtailed due to the COVID-19 emergency.

Letter to All Students Dated April 30 - COVID Fee Credit Adjustments and Refunds

To all students from the Office of Student Accounts

UB Student Accounts has worked with fee stewards across the university to determine credits due to students as a result of COVID-19 and are in the process of making adjustments to student’s accounts to reflect applicable credits.

Funds should be available in student bank accounts within 2 business days from the time the direct deposit refund is initiated, depending on your financial institution. We expect to process direct deposit refunds the week of May 4, 2020.

For students without a direct deposit profile, refunds will be mailed by check to the student’s permanent address the week of May 11, 2020.

For more information about Student Accounts related to COVID, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at the website below, or contact UB Student Accounts at:

Letter to All Students Dated March 23 - Credit/Refunds on Spring 2020 Semester Costs

To all students from: Laura Hubbard, Vice President for Finance and Administration Christina R. Hernandez, Interim Vice President for Student Life

Dear Students and Parents:

The University has been working closely with SUNY leadership to quickly resolve the financial impact remote instruction, distance learning, and campus housing changes have on students and families.

We are developing approaches to credit certain unused fees to a student's account. Our approach includes ensuring that decisions we make do not jeopardize any student's financial aid. Those impacts are currently under study and review.

As previously communicated, resident students who leave campus housing this semester will receive a prorated credit for their housing effective March 23, 2020 through the end of their remaining housing contract.

Students who have meal plan contracts or campus cash will receive a prorated credit for the balance remaining on their meal plan/campus cash on their student account as well.

Students will receive prorated credits for certain other fees where services have been discontinued or curtailed due to the COVID-19 emergency. A calculated credit amount is being determined for each of these fees:

* Transportation fee

* Athletics fee

* Recreation

* Campus Life Fee

* Student Activity Fee - to be determined by the applicable student government.

We realize this is a difficult, unexpected and unprecedented situation that we are all navigating together. Our goal is to finalize credits and applicable refunds as soon as possible and certainly before the end of the spring semester.

Central Purchasing of Personal Protective Equipment and Disinfectants

Updated May 1, 2020

In compliance with the State Executive Order for face coverings, UB’s Environment, Health and Safety team is currently facilitating the distribution of masks for all essential employees. In anticipation of non-essential employees returning to UB campuses, we will need to prepare for resources and materials, per State guidance and mandates. o be more efficient and effective in this transition, all Personal Protective Equipment and disinfectant materials will be sourced centrally for the entire university. This would include face coverings and disinfectant cleaning materials such as Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer. Centralizing this process will enable consistent, compliance-based and cost effective purchasing to be accomplished. Individual units should not initiate purchasing transactions for any of these items. An exception to this would require documented approval from EH&S. Acquisition, storage and distribution will be managed centrally. More information about this process will provided as plans are developed for the return of non-essential employees to campus.

Financial Scenario Planning

Updated April 27, 2020

Departments should continue to work with their Unit Business Officer (UBO) when conducting scenario planning in an effort to identify financial implications of potential strategies.

Resource Planning analysts continue to serve as a point of contact for resource planning efforts between UBOs and senior leadership.

To aid in planning and decision making Resource Planning has also collaborated with Office of Institutional Analysis (OIA) to provide senior leadership multiple scenarios of the potential enrollment impact on tuition, fee, and other revenues for Spring 2020 – Spring 2021 to the university. Resource Planning also continues to scenario plan the impact of the SUNY imposed expense reductions of 10% - 25% across all state funding sources.

UBOs should continue to work with their unit enrollment managers, department heads and senior leaders to understand any financial implications to their unit related to enrollment and the implementation of state spending reductions across all state sources.

Units should be scenario planning updated spending plans accounting for the 10-25% reductions, reviewing and accounting for all hiring plans, major purchases and capital projects.

Business Activities by Department

Updated May 29, 2020

Purchasing and Contracts

Updated June 1, 2020

Contact

Each business or entity, including those that have been designated as essential under Empire State Development's Essential Business Guidance, must develop a written safety plan outlining how its workplace will prevent the spread of COVID-19. Refer to the NY Forward Business Reopening Safety Plan Template

It is anticipated the university will continue to exercise good procurement stewardship

Due to COVID-19, we are allowing purchases to be delivered to a remote address for purposes of academic or business continuity. We recognize that this is an exception to the university’s procurement policy, and will only exercise this activity during our response to COVID-19 as necessary. In all cases, purchases remain the property of the University at Buffalo. Goods must be consumed for university purposes or be returned to the university for further use

Procurement Services is working with the incident response team in an effort to coordinate health and safety supplies centrally. When requesting emergency products, (e.g.) such as gowns or masks, put quantities and usage rates where possible, (e.g.) need 1000 and using 400 per week. Submit requests to emergencymanagement@buffalo.edu with a "cc" to the buyer. Please note the following units at the university have been prioritized for emergency related supplies, Student Health Center, Campus Living, University Police, and University Facilities

Continue to create eReqs or ShopBlue POs

Contact your buyer with any questions

Buyers will select suppliers based on availability but, will not substitute products without permission

USA or other manufactured products requiring components from China have shortages and lead time delays

Inventories of existing products, particularly China-produced or contain Chinese contents, are being consumed quickly and have been, in many cases, consumed

Order quantities needed for current activities or needs only; don’t build inventory

Typically these issues end abruptly and you may have far too much product with an expiring shelf life

Small orders are filled and shipped faster than large orders

Contracts continue to be executed. All NYS required contract procedures are occurring including advertisement in the contract reporter and OSC/AG approval. It is imperative we continue to process all construction related contracts, as many of these contracts come with long lead times. Doing so will more positively position the university to aggressively execute activities once the ban on construction is lifted

Purchasing is establishing a stringent process to limit adding new suppliers. The addition of suppliers, at UB, far exceeds other SUNY schools our size and is putting a tremendous burden on Purchasing staff

Shipping Information for Purchase Requisitions

When placing an order in ShopBlue or eReq you must identify any perishable and hazardous items on the purchase requisition by adding a note/comment to the requisition and follow up with an email to the appropriate buyer. The buyer will confirm back to the department with an email acknowledgement.

Perishable and hazardous products may not be shipped to residential addresses. The ordering department should make the necessary arrangements to receive the item on campus if the item is perishable or hazardous.

Helm Warehouse (Central Receiving) isnot equipped to accept deliveries of perishable, hazardous, refrigerated or frozen items as they do not have the equipment to store these items.

Procurement is not responsible for an order that was delivered incorrectly due to the shipping information that was provided by the ordering department or was returned to the supplier by the shipper because there was no one available at the location to accept the delivery.

Student Accounts

Updated May 8, 2020

Contact

Student Accounts has worked with fee stewards across the university to determine credits due to students for the spring 2020 semester as a result of COVID-19. Students have received prorated credits for certain fees where services have been discontinued or curtailed due to the COVID-19 emergency. A calculated credit amount has been determined for each of these fees. After credits are applied to the student’s account, a refund will be granted where applicable. Students anticipating a refund are encouraged to enroll in direct deposit. Funds should be available in student bank accounts within 2 business days from the time the direct deposit refund is initiated, depending on your financial institution. Direct deposit refunds were processed the week of May 4, 2020. For students without a direct deposit profile, refunds will be mailed by check to the student’s permanent address the week of May 11, 2020.

Late fees that were assessed on March 13, 2020 have been reversed. The university will not assess late fees for balances owed on the due date of April 15, 2020

Student Accounts staff is doing their very best to respond to student, parent, and departmental inquiries in a timely manner, however we ask that you please be patient with us as we adjust to new technology and a new work environment during this unprecedented event

The university will only be adjusting Presidential and Athletic scholarships for COVID-19 credits. Other institutional scholarships that were awarded for Spring 2020 to pay a student’s fees will not be adjusted, regardless of the funding source

Beginning Tuesday, April 14, 2020, Student Accounts in Crofts Hall will be available to post checks each Tuesday

Our counter for departmental deposits (checks only) will be open each Tuesday between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm.

Financial Management

Updated May 8, 2020

Financial Management Units

Financial Management Activities

PROCUREMENT CARD

Procurement Card certification templates have been sent out to all UBOs during the week of May 4. This annual certification process will include both State and Research Foundation procurement cards and will be due back to the card programs team by May 29 at ubs-cardporgrams@buffalo.edu.

Enter the following information within Funding Description Field: "COVID-19, [state the business purpose, brief item description, delivered to insert name and addresso of recipient]"

Click Save and Return and Save

Proceed with certification as usual

The description you enter will display in SIRI in the Procurement Card tab of the Procurement dashboard

Under normal circumstances, all shipments must be sent to a UB address. However, if shipping essential items off campus during this crisis is necessary, include the following statement within your documentation:

Due to COVID-19, this purchase is being delivered to a remote address for purposes of academic and business continuity. We recognize that this is an exception to the university’s procurement policy, and will only exercise this activity during our response to COVID-19 as necessary. In all cases, purchases remain the property of the University at Buffalo. Goods must be consumed for university purposes and/or be returned to the university for further use.

Monthly review and approval of all cardholder transactions by assigned departmental personnel remains a requirement. If signatures will be obtained remotely, signatures must be in accordance with best practices for electronic signatures

Faculty and staff should consult with their unit leadership regarding any large purchases needed for the continuation of services. Ensure a plan is in place to track credits from any purchases (i.e. conference registrations) which are cancelled due to COVID-19. Responses to commonly asked questions are available at FAQs About State PCards or you may email us with any questions related to one-time limit increases for emergency purchases.

Identify any purchases related to COVID-19 or items shipped to remote locations by indicating as such in the Business Purpose field of the RF Monthly Summary Form.

Recipient name and address of items delivered to must be included in the Business Purpose field on the RF Monthly Summary Form.

Under normal circumstances, all shipments must be sent to a UB address. However, if shipping essential items off campus during this crisis is necessary, include the following statement within your documentation:

Due to COVID-19, this purchase is being delivered to a remote address for purposes of academic and business continuity. We recognize that this is an exception to the university’s procurement policy, and will only exercise this activity during our response to COVID-19 as necessary. In all cases, purchases remain the property of the University at Buffalo. Goods must be consumed for university purposes or be returned to the university for further use.

Continue to review and submit monthly summaries as timely as possible

The Principal Investigator or authorized signature remains a requirement on the monthly summary form. If signatures will be obtained remotely, signatures must be in accordance with best practices for electronic signatures

Faculty and staff should consult with their unit leadership regarding any large purchases needed for the continuation of services

Ensure a plan is in place to track credits from any purchases (i.e. conference registrations) which are cancelled due to COVID-19

When submitting expenses in Concur due to COVID-19 cancellations, under Report Type, select COVID-19 Cancellation

Ensure a plan is in place to track credits from unused tickets for UB business travel

Non-refundable costs associated with sponsored program related travel that has been cancelled due to public health emergencies such as COVID-19 may be charged to an award if those costs would have otherwise been allowable and the sponsor guidelines related to the treatment of such costs are followed. Please check with your sponsor for specific document requirements

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

As discussed at the UBO meeting on April 30, 2020, departments may request to liquidate encumbrance balances that won’t be expended prior to fiscal year-end. This will provide a more accurate carry forward balance.

Please note: SUNY has requested that we take a close look at our encumbrances to see if there is anything that we can disencumber as soon as possible.

Note any purchase orders you wish to disencumber or roll over, as applicable. Purchase order balances cannot be rolled over if a payment has been processed against the purchase order. The funds must be liquidated, and a new requisition should be processed in the 20/21 fiscal year. Purchase orders with no payment activity for 12 months must be liquidated according to the Office of the New York State Comptroller Guide to Financial Operations Chapter III.7 Data Quality (https://www.osc.state.ny.us/agencies/guidelines.htm)

Asset Coordinators should be aware of all purchases being sent to remote locations and must appropriately document these cases and notify asset management by emailing ubs-assetmanagement@buffalo.edu

All equipment removed from campus must have a Property Removal form completed and on file with the department

UB asset transfer requests in response to COVID-19 must be directed to emergencymanagement@buffalo.edu. Emergency management and UB Asset Management will obtain necessary agreements prior to the loaning of the asset

State Fiscal Year End Shutdown

The State fiscal year-end processing is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 30, 2020 at 5 p.m.with expected date to re-open on Thursday, April 2, 2020

Statewide Financial System (SFS) production will be unavailable during this time and no documents will be processed in SUNY FMS with a liability date of April 1, 2020 or greater until all State fiscal year end activities are complete

University Fees

Course Fees for Spring 2020

A Course Fee worksheet by unit was distributed to UBOs in late March. UBOs have reviewed all the course fees within their unit to determine if services were discontinued due to COVID-19

UBOs submitted for each fee whether a full, partial or no refund needs to be given and have returned their completed worksheet by April 17 to ubs-universityfees@buffalo.edu

Financial Management is coordinatingwith Student Accounts to issue refunds on the student account for fees where services were no longer rendered and hope to have all refunding processed by the end of April

Course and Other Campus Fee Submissions for 2020-21

2020-21 fees that go through the SUNY approval process need to be completed and submitted to Financial Management by April 10, 2020 so that final approvals can be obtained before submission to SUNY, by the May 1, 2020 deadline

NOTE: It may be a challenge to obtain approvals for new fees or increases to fees from the SUNY Board of Trustees

Any fee submissions that do not receive approval for 2020-21 will plan to be resubmitted for Spring 2021 approval

Departmental Refund Checks

We are creating a repository for all departmental fees collected that need to have refund checks issued (i.e.), eChecks through ePay or cash or checks collected directly by the department for field trips, events, or deposits for other activities that have been cancelled and need to be refunded by check. Note: ePay credit card refunds are handled through Student Accounts)

For our office to be able to process fees that need to be refunded, please include the following:

Supporting detail on the fee that was collected, noting this refund is needed due to COVID-19

Individual’s full name to be refunded

Dollar amount to be refunded for each individual

Mailing address the refund check is to be delivered to

Financial Management is processing and mailing checks on the repository weekly

Department must maintain all supporting documentation and tracking of fee refunds to individuals

Under normal circumstances, all shipments must be sent to a UB address. However, if shipping essential items off campus during this crisis is necessary, include the following statement with your documentation:

Due to COVID-19, this purchase is being delivered to a remote address for purposes of academic/business continuity. We recognize that this is an exception to the University’s procurement policy, and will only exercise this activity during our response to COVID-19 as necessary. In all cases, purchases remain the property of the University at Buffalo. Goods must be consumed for University purposes and/or be returned to the University for further use.

State Interdepartmental Invoices (IDI)

An IDI Journal Template is available on our webpage and can only be used for state to state transfers (option 1)

Utilization of the Excel template is encouraged for state to state transfers as this provides an efficient option to process multiple transactions for campus recharge activity and expenditure transfers

A scanned image will not appear in SIRI for Excel templates and questions regarding these transactions will be directed to the individual that submits the file for processing

The individual IDI Request Form has been revised for electronic submission (option 2)

This form can be utilized for all funding sources (state, Research Foundation, UB Foundation)

Individual forms for state to state transfers will be scanned into SIRI as access and time permit

Inter-agency Journal Request Forms

Inter-agency Journal Request Forms may be submitted by email to Financial Management utilizing electronic signatures. Ensure accountholder is copied on the email to serve as authorization to use the identified account

As an alternative, request forms may also be accepted by signing, scanning and emailing

Paper copies should not be submitted to avoid the possibility of transactions being duplicated

Independent Contractors

Independent contractor forms may be submitted by email to Financial Management utilizing electronic signatures. Ensure accountholder is copied on the email to serve as authorization to use the identified account

As an alternative, Independent contractor forms may also be accepted by signing, scanning and emailing

Paper copies should not be submitted to avoid the possibility of transactions being duplicated

Review your work email and identify email records that must be retained in accordance with retention requirements, delete emails that are not records, and set up a system to file and organize what must be kept

Develop a plan to implement a records management program in your department: outline a plan, communicate the plan to others in your unit and obtain feedback, and identify steps to move forward when we unpause NY

The Business Application Support team continue to assist the campus with SIRI, Travel and Expense, and ShopBlue system questions. At this time all staff are working remotely, therefore please, utilize email for support. Online chat tools, if applicable, continue to be available as well.

Sponsored Activity

Updated May 8, 2020

Payment Processing

Currently, payment forms are received in SPS as hard copy documents. (Payments are defined as: Cash Advance Requests, Independent Contractor setup and payment forms, Non-Employee Reimbursements, Participant Stipends and Subject payments.) Due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, we have determined that there is a need to adjust the process to ensure continuity of services as we work from alternative worksites.

Until further notice, the following process should be followed for Sponsored transactions which would normally be received as hard copies.

Payments will be processed through UB Box to ensure compliance with the University’s data security standards. UB Box is safe and secure for documents that contain sensitive information such as social security numbers and bank account numbers.

SPS Administrative Support will set up UB Box payment folders by department.

Departments will upload payment forms including all applicable backup documentation to their UB Box folder. Payment forms can be signed with e-signatures or with scanned copies of original signatures. Paper copies should not be submitted to avoid the possibility of transactions being duplicated. Multiple payments should not be combined together in one file.

SPS Administrative Support will direct the payment forms to the Award Analyst for review and approval.

Electronic Signatures

An electronic signature is data, in digital form, attached to an electronically transmitted document as verification of the sender’s intent to sign the document. This is the equivalent of a handwritten signature, and is used to confirm approval of an action or the terms of a document.

While portions of the campus are operating from an alternate work location, the use of electronic signatures are acceptable for internal transactions, approvals or authorizations. SUNY does not currently accept electronic signatures as legally binding on state contracts or appointment letters.